Chad Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play in the NFL, which was followed by what has become a very successful career in media following an 11-year NFL career. But once upon a time, Johnson wasn’t living nearly as lavishly as he is now, which he admitted during an appearance on Green Light with Chris Long on Friday.
Before Johnson was an All-Pro caliber player, he was a second-round pick out of Oregon State, trying to solidify his spot in a Bengals organization that had been starving for talent for over a decade.
To his credit, Johnson worked his way into the good graces of the Bengals coaching staff, doing so by spending as much time in the Bengals training facility as possible.
Perhaps too much, as it turns out… Johnson spoke to Chris Long on Friday about his early days in the NFL, detailing to him how he actually opted not to buy a home in Cincinnati throughout the first two years of his career, instead living inside the Bengals’ training facility.
“Is it true that you actually lived in the facility?” asked Beau Allen, a fellow NFL player and co-host alongside Chris Long on his show.
“Yes, I wasn’t spending no money,” replied Johnson. “I didn’t understand… I am coming from college. I come from nothing. So all of a sudden, I make it to the NFL. And where I’m playing, at my job, has everything I need. So why am I buying a house? Why am I getting a condo? And everything is right here, it made no sense. Cafeteria, shower, work is right there, just wake up in the morning. Food, players lounge, the couch.”
Somehow, according to Johnson, he got away with living in the team facility throughout the first two years of his career, before his head coach, Marvin Lewis, ultimately found out and forced him to find new living arrangements.
“They didn’t know. But by the time I got to my third year, he made me (leave). ‘You can’t do this. You have to be a man. You have to take care of responsibilities. You have family. You have kids. When they come into town, where are you gonna go?’ To the hotel, that’s what I told him. I thought I was taking advantage of a situation that was good. But Marvin was like, after we got to year three, he was like, ‘You can’t do it anymore.'”
For the first couple years of @ochocinco’s career, he enjoyed all the amenities of the bengals facility by living there until Marvin Lewis said you can’t anymore 😂 pic.twitter.com/OFExEKR0Gd
— Green Light with Chris Long (@greenlight) June 6, 2025
Johnson has always been someone who is incredibly unique, even admitting in the past that McDonald’s was the core of his diet throughout his 11-year NFL career. So it’s perhaps not all that shocking to hear this admission from Johnson.
Still, it’s pretty wild that Johnson’s actually lived the life of a past comedic Progressive commercial starring Baker Mayfield, which portrayed Mayfield living inside Huntington Bank Field, during his time with the Cleveland Browns. Not to mention the fact that he recorded 1,166 yards and five touchdowns in his second season in the NFL while doing so.